Improvement in lamps



W. P. CLUTWURTHY,

Lamps.

NOAQJOO, i Patented March 31, 1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. OLOTWORTHY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO yEDWIN H. TRUST, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT iN LAMPS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149, 100, dated March 31, 1874; app'ication filed February 20, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, WM. P. CLoTwoRTHY, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented an Improved Burner and Wick for Lamps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is avertical section of a lamp having my improved wick-tube and endless supplement-al wick applied.

In lamps having the ordinary wick, as this isconsumed at top, and consequently shortcned, it is graduallyr drawn up from the oilchamber until it no longer reaches the surface of the oil therein, when it has to be removed and replaced by another, a large portion (on an average from one-third to onel1alf of the wick being thrown away unconsumed and utterly wasted. Moreover, as the lower end of the wick is drawn up toward the surface of the oil, the capillary action diminishes in intensity, the combustion is less actively supported, and the light consequently diminished.

To secure greater uniformity of light, to economize the consumption of wicks, and the labor of their frequent renewal, are the objects sought in the present invention. The nature of myiuvention consists in the application to the wick-tube oi' an ordinary lamp of a permanent endless supplemental wick, arranged about a ratchet-wheel, and placed in contact with the ordinary wick, and made of a length to rea-ch the bottom of the oil-chamber, so as to be at all times kept, by capillary action, full of oil, the object being to aii'ord the burning wick an ample and continuous supply of oil when, by reason of its'burnin g away at top, it becomes too short to reach the oil in the reservoir, thus greatly economizing the expenditure of wick, and securing uniformity in the supply of oil at the point of combustion, and consequent uniformity in the quantity of light resulting from the combustion.

In the drawings, A marks the body or oila chamber of an ordinary lamp, B the screwtop, and C the wick-tube. The lower part ot' the wick-tube is enlarged, as shown, so as to cover the wheel D, which raises and lowers the wick, and to receive the endless supplemental wick S, which runs over wheel D, in close contact with the burning wick W. The endless wick, it will be observed, descends to the bottom of the oil-chamber, and is, therefore, always full of oil when there is any oil in the chamber. It is caused to revolve upon wheel D whenever that wheel is turned to raise or lower wick WV. As wick W is constantly in close contact with the supplemental wick S, it will always be able to draw from the latter, by capillary action, the oil required to supply the loss caused by combustion, until thebnrning wick has beennso far consumed as vno longer to extend far enough down the wicktube to come in contact with wick- S. The piece of the burning wick which will be wasted will only be equal in length to the distance from the mouth ot' the wick-tube to the wheel D a quantity less, on an average, than one-sixth of the length of the ordinary wick.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Awick-tnbe having an endless supplemental wick, S, arranged about a ratchet-wheel, l), and placed in contact with the burning' wick, to secure at all\times a constant supply of oil to the latter, as herein described and set forth.

The above specification of my said invention signed and witnessed, at Baltimore, this 17th day of February, A. D. 1ST/1.

WM. P. CLOTWORTHY.

lVitnesses: y

' E. H. TRUST, L. MILLER. 

